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On Thursday (06/09), President Jair Bolsonaro asked food business entrepreneurs to reduce the profit margin in the production and sale of basic food products. According to Bolsonaro, this would be a way to help fight the country’s high inflation rates. The president stated that basic food products such as soy oil, eggs, milk, sugar and coffee are the villains of the increase in the basic food basket.
The Official Inflation Rate
On Thursday (09/06), the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) announced that the IPCA, considered the country’s official inflation, decelerated to 0,47% in May, after rising 1,06% in April. The accumulated value for 12 months-period is 11,73%.
Previous Requests to Control Prices
This is not the first time that Bolsonaro has appealed to supermarket owners to ask for a reduction in profits in an attempt to contain inflation. In 2020, when Brazil was also experiencing rising prices for basic items such as rice and soy oil, Bolsonaro even asked for “patriotism” from businessmen. At that moment, the first year of the Covid pandemic increased the demand in supermarkets for basic foods, because consumers stopped eating in bars and restaurants.
